Bump Start Stories

You can also push start some automatic trannies. But the speed needed is much higher.

 

I don't know bump start. I know push start as bumping the truck will not do anything but pushing it will.

 

Hah! Step dad told me a similar story, although his car was also challenged with reverse.... couldn’t get in. So he had to be wary of that too.

 

I suppose it is harder to bump start a modern car because significant electricity is needed to operate the fuel injection, high pressure fuel pump, ignition, etc. And some computers shut down if the voltage is too low.


Sometimes my MGB will die when coming to a stop if it is not warmed up; I then put it in second and pop the clutch while it is still moving. Works great with the transplanted Ford 302.


Years ago my only car was a Honda 600 Sedan. I waited several weeks to replace the battery when it died because the car was so easy to push and hop in to bump start.


While not quite a bump start story, I once had an old Mercedes 200 diesel. I took it to a body shop to have the rockers replaced but they accidently set the interior on fire with the welding and burned it up along with part of the wire harness, so there was no functioning electrical system. I had a parts car and the shop installed the windshield from it for me, and I put in the driver’s seat and steering wheel. We got the car started from an external battery and ran it without any electrical source since the old diesel was entirely mechanical. I successfully drove it home 20 miles, being very careful not to stall the engine and hoping the police would not notice the lack of brake and turn signals. I doubt they would have been very pleased to see me driving while sitting in the ashes of the interior.

 

With the glove box sized jump start devices push starting really isn't needed. Unless of course you missed the common sense part of learning as you grew up.

 

If your starter fails then the jump box isn't really going to help, but those sure are nice to have if the battery shits the bed.

 

I've always known it to be called "pop start".
I don't have any funny stories, just times when the car either had a bad starter or the battery was dead usually involving another car to push it (no jumper cables) or a couple people pushing it by hand.

 

The Umbrella Corp avatar? Cool.

 

Yes it is. Some people didn't like the movies but I thought they were ok. Never played the video games.

 

There's an Umbrella Corp that builds gun parts, I would love to build one of their AR15's, just me.

 

Another story, also not quite a bump start story but kind of - had a parts car for the Cortina that was a bit of a mashup. Gen 1 motor in a Gen 2 body with a Gen 3 gearbox. Unfortunately the input shaft for the gearbox was just slightly too big for the hole in the flywheel so it seemed like the clutch would never disengage. I had that gearbox in and out so many times I could do it with my eyes closed but 16 year old me never put two and two together and looked at the shaft/flywheel mix. Anyway, my friend had a Gen 4 parts car so we decided to race them in another friend's field. Because of my "clutch" issue I couldn't engage first if the engine was running so I would either start it and my friend would "bump" me to get moving so I could crash it into second, or we would just straight push start it in second using the starter and a little assistance from the other car. Once it was moving I could rev match to change between second and third (which was all I needed for racing around the field) but every now and then I would miss a gear and we would have to bump it to get moving again. Fun day

 

Done this many times. Most memorable were the time the starter failed on my RX8. I was parked on a hill, nose up. Started it in reverse and drove to the hobby shop to change out the starter. Another time I was in my 95 4x4 4 banger ranger on a beautiful February evening in Rhode Island. The battery was weak and the parking lot was just slick enough push starting wasn't enough. We used a tow strap with my buddies car and dragged it until the engine turned over.

 

When I was 18 I owned a first gen 4runner. The previous owner rigged a direct 12v connection to the power rear glass with a cheap 3 way toggle switch in the console. Girlfriend and I would go wheeling and sleep in the back pretty often, one night we wake up freezing cold in a blizzard so I got up to start it.. nothing. One of us had bumped the toggle switch to the "up" position and killed the battery. Luckily it push started with very little effort, would have been a hell of a walk to town.

Stupid thing is the stock switch worked completely fine once I put it all back to normal.

 

Never had a starter just die. Always warning signs. But someone mentioned not enough power to start fuel pump etc. you could use the backup power and then push start a vehicle.

All of this assumes you have ignored all the warning signs. But so many folks only know how to put gas in a vehicle it’s scary.

 

I have had a starter with less than 5k miles ‘just die’. Bad unit after replacing one on which I recognized the signs.

 

The first time i really attempted to push start a crucial detail was forgotten.

It's damn difficult to pop the clutch while in 1st gear.

 

I have to, in my case it was a cheap parts-store Reman on a non-Toyota. That's one of the things I really like about the Toyota Starters is the ability to replace the Brushes in the Starter when they wear. Done it twice in my T100 and once in a couple of other Toyota's I've owned over the years. It's no small coincidence that one of my VW's uses a Toyota Starter just for that reason.

 

Mine was also a reman but was on a Honda.

 

The starter failure l had was with zero warnings but as you said probably not frequently. These jump boxes are pretty impressive for being small in size, I've jumped several V8s with the one in my truck.

 

As with others, I’ve never heard bump start, but push start. Bump start is the clutch cancel button(at least what I think of it).